HAVERFORD, Pa. - Haverford Cricket opened their spring season this past weekend, going 1-1 against University of Pennsylvania on Saturday and Merion Cricket Club on Sunday.
The Quakers got the better of the Fords in Saturday's match up, winning 137-8 to 73-9. Early morning showers meant the Fords faced slippery conditions when bowling first to Penn. Haverford's opening bowlers struggled with conditions, unable to make a breakthrough. However, the first bowling change would prove fruitful, with first year Mohanish Bajaj using his deceptive leg spin to clean bowl one of Penn's opening batsmen.
While Penn continued to rebuild their innings, the introduction of first year Deep Patel stopped their momentum. Off his very first ball of the season, Patel exacted a brilliant runout—slowing the ball before chasing it down and sending it directly into the stumps to catch Penn's other opening batsman out of his ground. Patel would claim his first wicket off his bowling on the very next delivery. A sharply struck ball was snagged by Patel, dismissing the batsman caught and bowled for Patel's maiden wicket at the college.
Haverford continued to put pressure on Penn, with senior captain Gulesh Shukla capturing two wickets after the drinks break—the first a peachy delivery which clean bowled the Penn batsman. The second wicket by Shukla saw a poorly timed shot travel safely to the hands of Samuel Ross, who took his first catch for Haverford.
Penn produced a late push, scoring 52 runs off their last eight overs, despite a few run outs in addition to sophomore Eugene Yang picking up his first wicket of the season, clean bowling Penn's number six batsman.
Chasing 138, Haverford started their batting innings slowly and were unable to recover, falling 65 runs short of a winning total.
Sunday's match on the road at Merion Cricket Club was the team's first away match of the year. The facing an unfamiliar pitch, the Fords did fantastic to put up a total of 132-7 before bowling out the opposition for 103 runs, securing a 29 run victory.
After winning the toss, the Fords opted to bat first, sending in sophomore Joshua Corbett to face the new ball alongside Bajaj. Corbett was unlucky to be dismissed in his first over after a surprisingly sharp throw caught him short of his ground while attempting a quick single.
Bajaj played a cautious start to his innings. After the loss of Corbett, Bajaj would watch wickets falling steadily at the other end, leaving the Fords 25-4 after the seventh over. Bajaj would finally find a steady partner in sophomore Samanyu Kurra. Scoring just 6 runs off the first 19 balls he faced, Bajaj would open up after the arrival of Kurra, scoring a quick 45 runs off his next 39 delivers. Kurra would depart next with a steadfast 12 off 35, having provided Bajaj the stability to score freely while putting up a 49-run partnership. Bajaj was joined by Patel and would finish the innings with an unbeaten 51 runs before retiring. Late cameos by Patel and Yang propelled Haverford to a very defensible 132 run total, with Patel scoring a career best 13.
Taking the field, Shukla would share the new ball with Patel, who hoped to extract some turn with his flighted off spin. However, it would once again be Bajaj who provided the first breakthrough for Haverford. Brought on in the seventh over, Merion's batsmen were simply unable to read Bajaj's leg spin. A mistimed shot sent the ball high in the air, with Bajaj completing the catch himself.
Bajaj's would strike twice more in his next over, with Shukla diving to his right to complete a difficult low catch in a magnificent piece of fielding. The new batsman would fall just 3 balls later, clean bowled. Bajaj's took yet another wicket in his third over, with Shukla again completing a catch off Bajaj's bowing.
Sophomore wicketkeeper Rebecca Stern later gifted Bajaj his 5-wicket haul, cleanly collecting his delivery before stumping the batsman in a wonderful heads-up play. This was also Stern's first stumping for the college. Bajaj would pick up a sixth wicket to end the day with career best figures of 6-17.
Not to be outdone, first year Sidd Phatak took his first wicket of the season with his fierce pace. A quick delivery caused the batsman to send the ball flying straight into Bajaj's safe hands. Yang would join in the fun as well. Unable to play his natural outswing, Yang cleaned up two batsman in as many overs—swinging the ball around the bat and straight into the stumps, clean bowling both batsman. Yang would also show his fielding prowess.
Underestimating Yang's accuracy, the Merion batsman attempted a run off Yang's fielding at mid-on. Yang cleanly collected the ball and sent it directly into the stumps for a direct hit runout.
After producing both the best batting and bowling figures of Haverford's opening weekend, it is no surprise that Mohanish Bajaj was awarded the Player of the Match award for the Fords' opening weekend victory.
Haverford will look to continue their winning ways in the coming weekend, facing off against British Officer's Cricket Club at home on Cope Field April 16 (noon).